With oil cheap, Arab states cannot balance their books

Post by jeffreyrogers » Tue, Jul 21, 2020, 8:13 PM UTC

lsaferite wrote: post #59

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As they say in the oil industry: the cure for low oil prices is low oil prices. In any case, if the developing world is really to develop as much as hoped for and claimed they will need a lot of oil. Even if it is all renewables based (which is a fantasy) those renewables require large oil inputs to be manufactured (those 400 ton mining trucks won't be electrified anytime soon). So while I expect oil to be down over…

> those 400 ton mining trucks won't be electrified anytime soon https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a...

Post by ksk » Tue, Jul 21, 2020, 8:27 PM UTC

hnarn wrote: post #145

ksk wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've lived in Singapore, and while it is generally a free society, its only pseudo democratic, and the government has placed various restrictions on political activities. Its no where near the level of Saudi Arabia, but there is a huge difference between traveling to Singapore for work/vacation and living there.

I am aware Singapore is not a perfect democratic example but this derails the debate and is beside the point, which is that if Singapore had mirrored the oppressive nature of Saudi Arabia, it would never have succeeded.

Post by ArkVark » Tue, Jul 21, 2020, 8:50 PM UTC

GordonS wrote: post #57

andi999 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A long time ago on an island far away... called Nauru, they tried to invest their wealth from their natural riches (phospor fertilizer). It didnt work out, if I remember correctly.

It's a strategy that's worked well for Norway though

Post by marcosdumay » Tue, Jul 21, 2020, 8:55 PM UTC

samstave wrote: post #63

marcosdumay wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Who wants to build a factory in Saudi Arabia even if it weren't unstable? Everything just costs too much because of the oil - land, materials, labor. So, import all the inputs you can and sell the output on the local market where everything is expensive. Dutch disease is way more complicated than just "there's too much money coming from this source, the economy is fucked-up". I would really like to see any non-simp…

Imported Inputs into a GDP will always be SPOF... Wont they? Like you need to have serious incentives to import all your inputs. Else, you are a leeching economy regardless of the value of your goods (Apple)

Post by irrational » Tue, Jul 21, 2020, 8:59 PM UTC

grayfaced wrote: post #159

irrational wrote: post #66

It seems like the Middle East is going to get a double whammy from climate change. 1. Their economies will be affected as the world moves to non-oil based energy. 2. Their land will become more uninhabitable as time goes on. Higher temperatures, less water, more sandstorms, etc. I've seen studies that say the Middle East will be completely uninhabitable by the end of the century so we should expect mass migration fro…

80% of Dubai's food is imported, so can you label it already uninhabitable? Habitable is just a matter of how many resources you're willing to pump into making it so. With the holy sites in the middle east, it will remain populated for long to come. You're right though, we'll see unprecedented mass migration. What's worse is the middle east has some of the highest birth rates in the world. With that excess population…